ABSTRACT:
Plant viruses are the
most infectious agents in commercially important crops worldwide. Plant viral
diseases are important because both decreased yielding and quality of fruits,
flowers or vegetables lead to million-dollar losses in production. At present
there are no reports which suggest a direct control of plant virus. A new
strategy for plant virus control has been raised since 13 years ago—the use of
peptides. Peptides could offer a direct interaction by affinity selection
against viral proteins involved in infection cycle, like capsid or movement
protein (e.g.) and affect viral replication. Peptidomics, as a new tool to
study peptides, led us screening and selecting the best peptide with antiviral
activity, and re-designing it to enhance the biological effect as well as the
potential of bioactivity of those peptides secreted by microbes present in
soil. In this paper we review current aspects in the use of peptides and
peptidomics as a strategy to study new methods that lead a direct control
against plant viral diseases.